Archive for Devotional with Hymn

Single-minded Devotion

2015-12-03 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Hosea 4:7-13; Matthew 16:1-4

Since God views His relationship with His people as a marriage, He considers it adultery when we chase other “gods”, other loves. In the Old Testament, when Israel worshipped other gods, God accused her of playing the harlot. For example:

My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them;
For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,
And they have played the harlot, departing from their God. (Hosea 4:12, NASB)

Jesus took the same view. When the Jewish leaders saw Jesus’ miracles and heard His words, yet still demanded other proofs of who He was, He called them “an evil and adulterous generation” (Matthew 16:4, NASB). Their hearts weren’t satisfied with Him or with their God. They were putting their love and trust elsewhere.

As believers, we need to guard our hearts against the same danger, against the same unfaithfulness to our Bridegroom. In writing to the church in Corinth, Paul expressed his concern for them this way:

I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2-3, NASB)

Since Jesus is the Bridegroom, we believers are engaged to Him. What is expected of us as we approach our marriage to Him?

  • Like any bride-to-be, we are to keep ourselves pure, devoted to Him alone. In our hearts and in our lives, we cannot chase other loves. We are His. We are to love Him alone. All our loves for anyone and anything must flow from our one love of Him. He is now the center of all our relationships and all our desires.
  • The word in 2 Corinthians 11:3 translated as “simplicity” is particularly meaningful. It has a variety of shades of meaning, depending on its context: simplicity…sincerity…generosity. But the one word that seems to sum it up is “single-mindedness”. Our groom, our husband-to-be expects us to be single-mindedly devoted to Him.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Only Good Is Jesus
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Through Eyes of Love

2015-12-01 Devotional with Hymn No comments

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all. (Philippians 1:3-4, NASB)

On Facebook I’m often struck by how people absolutely glow when they talk about those they love, especially their families: children, grandchildren, spouses, and parents.

What’s more, these family members also glow when described by those who love them. Through indifferent eyes, they would appear ordinary and deeply flawed. But through eyes of love, these human creatures glow with uniqueness, beauty, and potential. They are genuinely special! Love gives us a glimpse into the lovely and intriguing creations they were designed to be.

God sees each of us through such eyes of love. And He calls us, challenges us, and implores us to see each other as He sees us, through His loving eyes and His loving heart. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: I Look to You, and You Are Love
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Make God Flesh and Blood

2015-11-29 Devotional with Hymn No comments

What an amazing concept! Our loving God, an infinite Spirit being, holy, unseen, and transcendent, made Himself a real human being. He longed for us to know Him. He wanted us to trust Him. He wanted to assure us that He understood us. He became like us in every way, sharing our existence, our life, our temptation, our pain, even our death. He became like us so that we could become like Him.

That is incarnation: God made flesh…God become human. God became incarnate in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is no longer with us in physical form. But God’s deep longing to be incarnate has not cooled. He still burns to be seeable and touchable. He still desires to be flesh and blood here on this earth, among the human beings who need to know Him and come to Him. Incarnation is still what He wants.

How can He be incarnate here? We, His children, His Church, are His incarnation. As soon as Jesus returned to the Father, He poured out His own Spirit on all who trusted Him. By the Spirit of God we make God flesh and blood, here and now. We make Him real to needy people. We are His face, His hands, His feet, His heart. We are His love, His compassion, His holiness, His peace, and His unconquerable joy.

Our wonderful God become seeable and touchable. What an amazing possibility! And each of us and all of us can play a part. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Be the Incarnation
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Love That Teaches

2015-11-24 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” 

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 

We had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:5-7, 9-11, NASB)

“Father” has grown to be the name for God that is most dear and meaningful to me. This personal name expresses intimacy and belonging. It reminds me of His deep love for me as His own son. And when I speak it to Him, the word says, “I love You and trust You and reverence You.”

But the scripture above adds a new side to this picture of God as my Father. It says that God disciplines all His children…including me.

Does that mean that God sends troubles our way? Or perhaps He just allows them, then uses them for our good? I won’t attempt to answer those questions. My concern is what His discipline has to do with me.

I remember when my three children were teenagers. I came to realize that they would only grasp many truths through personal experience. I could talk and talk, but some lessons would never penetrate their shells. Like all of us, they would base their decisions on how they saw the world. Unfortunately, there is so much of the world they hadn’t yet seen. But pain is a great teacher, and they would learn, just as we did.

I think of my own life. If I didn’t experience all the tough times, how much would I really understand of God’s tender, personal love for me? Would I realize that He cares about my finances, my car, my children, my job – everything I care about – and that He is willing to be involved in all those areas?

How often did I cry out in desperation, “Lord, You are able. Why don’t You just take away these desires?” Yet without those shameful failures, would I have learned how totally, constantly I must depend on Him? Would I have tasted the depths of my own self-centeredness, the terrible bondage of sin, or the wonderful freedom of holiness?

Without the demands of family life, would we ever understand the demands of love, or its blessings?

He has spoken so many truths to us in the Bible, and He has called us to simply trust Him. But these truths often don’t come alive for us until we experience life’s discipline.

Remember, God is not a scowling disciplinarian, standing over us with a switch in His hand. I hurt for people who travel through life with a guilt complex, thinking each new trouble is a punishment from God for some failure. Our Father is not like that. He is eager to teach us, eager to lift us and show us how deeply He cares. His heart is anxious to give us His very best, and not even the life of His only Son is too great a price to pay.

Trust Him. Look to Him in everything, and let each situation teach You more about His love for you.

All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. (Psalm 25:10, NASB)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Are Children
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Kingdom of Peace

2015-11-22 Devotional with Hymn No comments

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9, NIV)

Peace begins in God.
It begins with His completeness in Himself and
with the love and perfect unity among the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Peace comes to us in Christ.
He who is one with the Father and one with the Spirit
became one of us.
And as we simply trust Him, like children,
He becomes one with us.

When Christ has finished what He has started,
when we are one with Him, we will be
one with the Father and
one with the Spirit as well.
As we are one with them,
we will also be one with each other,
and the peace of God will be perfect and complete.
Creation itself will then be transformed.
As Romans 8 says:

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
For the creation was subjected to frustration…
in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (vv.19-21, NIV)

Peace will reign in all creation:
no more disharmony; only
unity,
contentment,
completeness, and
well-being;
full, open, fruitful, unimpaired relationships throughout all reality.
Just imagine!

Beauty and truth,
pleasure and purity,
humanity and holiness,
justice and mercy,
will be full and in perfect harmony,
just as they have always been full and in perfect harmony in God.
Art and science,
celebration and reflection,
giving and receiving,
worship and play
will simply be facets of being in Him constantly and completely.

Everyone will be
beautiful in their God-breathed individuality.
We will be
like Him,
with Him, and
complete in Him
forever.

O come, Prince of Peace! 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Sweet Peace
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All Credit, No Blame

2015-11-18 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.” (2 Samuel 23:2, NASB)

I identify with this verse, which is from “the last words of David” recorded in 2 Samuel 23:1-7. I too am conscious of Almighty God speaking through me. But sometimes I struggle with how to characterize this to others. I don’t want to claim a higher, purer inspiration for my words than the truth merits. All the blame for my stumbling words is mine and mine alone.

At the same time, I am deeply conscious that He is speaking through me. I don’t deserve the credit for anything good that comes from what I say or write. All truth comes from Him. I’m also conscious that the way I express that truth, the words chosen, also frequently comes from Him. He alone is all truth, beauty, and elegance. We cannot even affirm that “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3, NASB). Words, phrases, and lines sometimes come to me fully formed, with no “constructing” necessary on my end. Where do His perfections end and my childlike efforts begin? I don’t know, nor do I know how to properly praise Him for graciously involving me in the wonderful things He does.

Father, all good comes from You. You include me in Your work, not because I am good, but because You are good. I have no good, know no good, speak no good outside of You. Teach me how to give You all the credit but none of the blame for the magnificent truth You beautifully share and I so inadequately express. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Speak Your Word, My Father
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Promises

2015-11-15 Devotional with Hymn No comments

During Advent we see Jesus, not as flesh and blood reality, but as a promise, a hope, a silhouette of our coming salvation. During Christmas He is still a helpless baby who only does…what babies do. Yet even before the human Jesus did anything, simply through His coming He painted a beautiful portrait of our God:

  • This God has worked for millennia to save us from death and bring us back to Himself. His plan was born long before we were, and it will continue until it is completed.
  • While we wait for that completion, He encourages and draws us through promises. And He carefully keeps every promise, even when the wait seems endless. Christ’s birth proves that God keeps His promises. Be assured that His promised second coming will happen as well.
  • God describes Himself in terms we can understand. But no description, no name, no combination of roles does Him justice. He is a King, yet a Servant…a Mighty Warrior, yet a Shepherd. He is both Prophet and Priest…a powerful Lion and a Lamb to be slaughtered. Our God overflows all these descriptions.
  • God is also a patient gardener. He loves to grow things! He is growing for us a life that is deep and rich and fruitful beyond our wildest imaginings. But it starts from a tiny seed and must grow slowly and naturally. We have to nurture it. We have to wait for it.
  • Beyond all these, first and foremost, our God is a Father.
  • This Father dearly loves “ordinary” people. He loves them like His own children.
  • God embraces human life from the roots up. This 100% God became 100% human that we might become 100% like Him. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: See How God’s Flower Blossoms
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Undying Love

2015-11-12 Devotional with Hymn, Pictures of God No comments

from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD

Read Isaiah 54:1-10

The Old Testament prophets frequently talk about God’s relationship with His people as a marriage. Out of love, each makes promises to the other. They make a covenant, a contract, an agreement – not only a legal contract, but a contract of two hearts. They promise to honor, love, and be forever faithful. But Israel made promises that she could not keep and did not keep. What happened to the marriage then?

One of the most striking things about the Old Testament prophecies is their frequent pairing of horrific judgment with wonderful renewal. Israel sinned, repeatedly, grievously, over a long period of time, with total indifference toward their God. As a result, God was forced to let her reap what she had sown. But He would no more get the fierce words of judgment out of His mouth than He would be forgiving her, comforting her, wooing her to Himself.

He is a lover, a husband, whose love for His unfaithful wife simply will not die.

Love is as strong as death…
Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor will rivers overflow it. (Song of Solomon 8:6-7, NASB)

Read Isaiah 54:1-10. Israel’s sin and God’s judgment have been deep and severe. Israel has flaunted her prolonged unfaithfulness to her Husband. For a time, she has been so devastated that she seemed like a widow, left completely and helplessly alone. But now how does God speak to her?

  • He cannot stay angry with her (v.9).
  • He shows her compassion, though she deserves none. Though she has wronged Him, His concern is for her (v.7).
  • He reaffirms His everlasting, never-dying love for her (vv.8, 10).
  • He takes away all her shame, all her disgrace. Imagine the deep shame of having been unfaithful to your spouse, then imagine the spouse removing it, completely and forever. What forgiveness! What renewal! (vv.4, 6)
  • He tells her again that He, the Creator of all, the Lord of all the heavenly armies, the Redeemer, is her loving husband (v.5).
  • He joyfully says she should make more room in their tent, for children are coming – lots of children! New life will be born from their love (vv.1-3).

Father, thank You for Your passionate, undying, life-giving love for us!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Give Thanks to God
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Lord, Today

2015-11-10 Devotional with Hymn No comments

You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:14, NIV)

My life is a breath.
I appear, then disappear.
I can’t speak with confidence about the next moment,
much less about the future.

When I think about the future,
it usually turns to useless speculation and worry.
I get anxious about my own selfish concerns, and
I miss today’s opportunities for blessing those around me.

Lord, I don’t know what the future holds.
But I know You are there.
I know You are working today
to draw us further into the fullness of Your great blessings.

Lord Jesus, today matters.
Today I will keep my eyes and my heart fixed on You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Holy in You
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Your Kingdom Come, Father!

2015-11-08 Devotional with Hymn No comments

The mall near our house isn’t doing well. As a business person myself, familiar with the pain of financial struggle, I empathize. It saddens me to see so many store spaces unrented and so many shops crammed with merchandise but empty of customers. The mall’s attractive façade puts on a smiling face, but its emptiness sings a mournful song of failure and loss.

But today, Father, You whisper to me that this is the story of all our world. Separated from You, separated from its Creator and His life, His wisdom, and His power, this world is bankrupt. It is doomed to struggle, emptiness, bitter disappointment, and utter failure.

But I hear new management is coming to the mall, and they have a vision. They have a plan, and they are working. They hope to transform this shell into a bustling, useful, successful shopping area.

You are working as well, our Father. You have promised that You will transform our dying world into a new creation, overflowing with life, love, fulfillment, fruitfulness, and joy. We have seen You work before, and we know You always accomplish Your purpose.

Your Kingdom come, Father. Your Kingdom come!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Hallelujah Hymn
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